A new service to Switzerland, and some competitive pricing from tour operators
is making rail travel a more attractive option for skiers this season, says
Nick Trend.

More and more skiers are, it seems, turning to rail as a more relaxing way of getting to the Alps. And it isn’t just the more adventurous independent travellers who are doing so. After a sharp rise in demand last year, Crystal (crystalski.co.uk), the biggest ski tour operator, has significantly increased its allocations on non-stop services from St Pancras, and it now offers rail-based travel to Val d’Isère, Les Arcs, La Plagne and the Trois Vallées, at the same price as holidays by air (including the short transfer up the mountain by air).

Perhaps this new trend is not so surprising. It may be a short flight to the Alps, but it can be a hellish, stressful journey, usually involving checking-in early in the morning, a high risk of delay and a long, tedious transfer, which can also be marred by poor weather. The loss of an hour because of the time change is another factor which makes it almost impossible to do any skiing on the first day of your holiday.

So, if you are going to spend most of the day travelling in any case, cutting out the check-in, the flight and the transfer, and spending a relaxing day on the train is an attractive option. Some people use overnight trains as a way of getting eight days of skiing, and reducing time lost while travelling. But there are no couchettes on the direct trains from London, so you have to reckon on a significant amount of lost sleep as well.

Depending on your starting point in Britain and your destination in the Alps, the total journey time by rail often compares well with travelling by air. Let’s take the example of someone who lives within an hour of St Pancras station (that’s several million people). If you are heading to one of the big resorts of the Tarentaise in France, and you catch the through train, you would have to leave home two hours before the 10am departure (there’s a one-hour check-in for this train) and would be in Bourg St Maurice or Moûtiers at 6.10pm local time. Let’s allow an hour for the final stretch by connecting bus (it can be less – about 40 minutes to La Tania for example, but about 85 minutes to Val Thorens). Total travel time is just over 10 hours.

If you were flying, you would have to leave home, say, three hours before the flight, allow 90 minutes in the air, an hour on the ground and three hours on the coach to the resort. That’s a total travelling time of eight and a half hours – and with a much greater risk of delay.

It’s a similar story on the way back – at least if you travel with a tour operator offering a typical midday flight back from Geneva, Grenoble or Lyon, which usually involves catching a coach from the resort before dawn. The train from Moûtiers departs at 10am and gets back to London just after 4pm. (It isn’t always like that. If you live near the airport and head for somewhere like Chamonix or Morzine, which are very close to Geneva, you can cut things much finer, but you would still be pushed to get on the slopes on the same day.)

This season there is more good news for rail enthusiasts. A new additional service to Brig in Switzerland, which originates in Lille, will link with the early morning Eurostar on Saturdays between December 22 and April 13. This avoids the need to change stations in Paris and significantly cuts the journey time to several Swiss resorts.

Here is a summary of the main options by rail to the Alps this winter. All times quoted are local.

France

The weekly Eurostar (08705 186186; eurostar.co.uk) direct ski trains operate non-stop from London St Pancras to the Tarentaise with stops at Moûtiers, Aime La Plagne and Bourg St Maurice, which offer bus/cable car connections up the mountain to Tignes/Val d’Isère, Les Arcs, La Plagne and the Trois Vallées. The daytime service operates on Saturdays departing from London at 10am, and arriving at the final stop, Bourg St Maurice, at 6.51pm, and returning at 9.29am arriving back in London at 4.11pm.

The overnight train – which has standard seats, and no couchettes, leaves on Fridays at 7.31pm and arrives at 6.28am the next morning. The return departs at 10.15pm on Saturday evening. Both cost from £149 return, and run outbound from December 22 to April 6 (day train) and December 21 to April 5 (night train). Note that the return train does not pick up from Aime La Plagne - you need to go to Moutiers or Bourg, instead.

So, as long as you don’t mind heaving your luggage between the Gare du Nord, where the Eurostar arrives, and the Gare de Lyon (for daytime TGV services) or Gare d’Austerlitz (for slower Lunea sleeper services) from where the Alpine trains depart, you can still make the journey comfortably, leaving London on an afternoon train and taking the French sleeper from Paris. (There are some options via Lille, where you just have to change platforms for the connecting train.) This way, you can travel on any day of the week and fares are cheaper – the lowest return to the Tarentaise through Rail Europe (0844 848 4070; raileurope.co.uk), for example, is £109 (this fare is for a Eurostar Connections ticket to Bourg St Maurice and allows you to stop for up to 24 hours in Paris).

But if you book a night train the fare rises to £134 (including accommodation in a six-berth couchette). In effect, two people save £50 by travelling by day, enough to make a decent dent in a Paris hotel bill (above prices based on travel to Bourg St Maurice). Note that the Lunea can also take you to ski destinations other than the Tarentaise, including Serre Chevalier, Chamonix and Megève in the Alps.

Switzerland

Throughout the winter, the TGV Lyria runs a direct service from Paris to Brig. This year, there will be a new additional service, originating in Lille, which will link with the early morning Eurostar (departing London 6.57am with a half-hour connection at Lille and arriving at Brig at 5.08pm) on Saturdays. It stops at Aigle (for connections to Leysin, Villars, Interlaken, Les Diablerets and Les Portes du Soleil ski resorts), Martigny (for Crans Montana, Le Châble and Chamonix), Visp (for Zermatt and Saas Fee) and Brig (for Belalp, Blatten and Riederalp). Through fares booked through Eurostar cost from £189 return (though you will have to pay extra for some of the connections and transfers).

Alternatively, you could take the train to Paris and connect with the Friday afternoon Lyria des Neiges, which departs at 3.58pm and continues right through Switzerland to Visp (arriving at 9.52pm in time to make a connection to Zermatt), with stops at Montreux and Sion, for example, en route.

On other days you can use the Lyria to get to Swiss resorts with a change of train at Geneva (six hours 15 minutes from London via Paris), or Zurich (seven hours 55 minutes) or Basle (six hours 55 minutes), for example. Return fares from London on these routes are available from £114 through by Rail Europe.

Austria

It is relatively awkward to get to the Austrian Alps by train. There is a direct overnight train from Paris to Munich and from there you can connect to trains to resorts such as Zell am See-Kaprun and Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang (the train takes you to Leogang. Saalbach doesn’t have a station, you take a bus from Zell Am See). (Connections to Zell am See are via Wörgl or Salzburg.)

However, this train won’t be running between January 25 and February 25 because of engineering works. The fare is also quite high, reflecting the three-stage nature of the journey, and you will need to book well in advance to get the lowest price, especially if you want the connections to work smoothly.

Theoretically, you should be able to buy a Eurostar fare to Paris (from £69 return), the City Night Line (from about £87 return) and then a return fare from Munich to your Austrian resort (to Zell am See from Munich via Wörgl, for example, starts at £90 return) for a total of £246. You can book the City Night Line through Deutsche Bahn (bahn.co.uk).

There is also a direct overnight service during the winter from Paris to Innsbruck. This runs on Friday nights from December 14 through to April 5 (departing Paris at 8.05pm and arriving in Innsbruck at 9.46am). Fares start at £87 return in a six-berth couchette.

Italy

One option to be aware of is the TGV France-Italy service to Oulx, for Sauze d’Oulx and Sestriere. There are two services per day that connect with Eurostar services from London. The journey time from London is from seven hours, 54 minutes and fares start at £121 return (Rail Europe).